Does This Look Like A Format That's About To Fragment?

Since roughly a third of all radio users give all radio stations some 70% of their total hours of listening, it's safe to say that as goes the core, so goes the radio station they use.

That's why A&O&B has been tracking annual "Roadmap" online perceptual studies for many years.

In 2014, 8,874 very local fans in more than 70 markets in the U.S. & Canada gave us their opinions.  Nine of ten were "P-1," since just 9.3% choose country as 2nd or 3rd choice.

As Mike O'Malley blogged that passion for today's country runs very high:  "even among 55-64 year olds, six in ten like new country frommillennial stars 'a lot.'"  

That's driving improving total hours tuned:

It's especially the case with younger demos:

The biggest increase came 18-24, but is across all demos:

Loyalty (likely to switch if something new became available) is also on the upswing:

That's not say that there aren't individual radio stations failing to perform at these benchmarks whose listeners might jump at the chance to try something different and new.  As Radio-Info's Mike Kinosian reported on Friday, one third of the Nielsen rated country stations in his last tracking study failed to join the national up trend for the country format.

I hope you aren't one of them, but it appears that the average country station among A&O&B clients is well-positioned to fend off a niche competitor!

If you aren't among the majority, A&O&B can help,

Bye Bye P-1 Report, Hello Cluster Analysis "Junkies"

It has been fascinating to watch Nielsen decide to stop offering a report that was created almost thirty years ago even as radio researcher Mark Kassof released a report that indicates almost exactly the same statistical relationship of a radio station's heaviest users to their total averages.

35% of all listeners, multivariate data pioneer Kassof finds, account for about 70% of all listening for the typical radio station.

As "Research Doctor" Roger Wimmer and longtime researcher Pierre Bouvard recall, a bright programmer/researcher - Gary Donohue - originated the concept of segmenting radio tuning into quintiles for programming and marketing.

Donohue's "Fingerprint" stats from back in the diary-only days proved that about 30% of radio listeners gave stations roughly 70% of their listening.

When you see two completely different research approaches yield very close to the same result over a very long period of time, you have to believe that you are approaching that rare entity:  THE TRUTH.

Just because Nielsen has unplugged the "P-1 report," it's still vital to know who your heaviest users are, where they live and how they perceive and behave.

If you need assistance in creating your own reports to analyze their use of your station, A&O&B would be delighted to assist.

Trend: Away From Home Is Up; At Home Listening Slips

Sampling and discovery happens in the car (cume), but turning that usage into ultra core time spent listening/hours tuned involves getting them to start with you very early in their day and then taking the radio station to work with them.

Source: BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 Radio Data Book

Why Working On At Work Listening .. WORKS.

Even 7-Midnight gets "at work" listening! If you do nights and you don't have it, your share falls on average by 10%.


.. but HALF of midday's share of audience is driven by it.


Tip: make your radio station, regardless of the format, as at work-friendly as possible, from early morning until nights.

Source: BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 Radio Data Book

You Can't Win Younger Demos Without Winning At Work

Country ranks #3 in "at home" listening in Canada, but is #7 "at work."


To beat the national averages, a station must do twice "the average" in at work listening.


Thanks to BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 Radio Data Book for a helpful lesson in where the majority of our listening is coming from and going to.

A&O can point to many country format clients across Canada who get 25-30% of their total hours from at work listening, which is far above the national average for diary markets and driving superior heavy user listening and 25-44 growth.

It can't be done, however, by simply swimming with the prevailing currents. It takes strategy and consistent tactics, making us very proud of their outstanding achievement.

What's Happening To Country Radio In Canada?

What can ANY country radio station learn from these national averages, gleaned (as in stats shared last week) from BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 Radio Data Book?

Fortunately, A&O's Canadian country clients have been having a very good 2010-2011, a fact that looks even better when compared to national format shares from all diary survey markets, which are not pretty:

(click the chart to enlarge it) Ranking #4 nationally overall still isn't too shabby, of course, and many other formats would like to trade places with country, but Top 40 and Classic Hits were up at Country, Hot AC and Classic Rock's expense through last fall and the BBM national Spring 2011 country format 12+ diary market share continued the drop, to an 8.5.

The population demographic movements offer one helpful clue - as the format's 18-24 share is better than 25-34 and even 35-49 nationally and many listeners slid into the 55+ age groups, but there's more to it than just that.

Even more interesting are the locations where those trends happened and I'll share that info - which provides a clue as to what our clients in Canada have been doing to out-perform the trends with you tomorrow.

Your Most Important Listeners

More from BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 Radio Data Book:


One-fifth of all participants in the ratings survey account for more than half of all listening. Four of ten contribute 80% of the total hours spent with radio.

Each time time you encounter one of your station's - or your competition's - heaviest users in person, on the phone, by snail mail or online, make certain they know that you know how important they are to your success.